Car-coupling



(No Model.)

J. P. PRYOR.

. GAR COUPLING.

No. 279,800. Patented June 19,1883.

ATTORIITEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH FRANCIS PRYOR, OF HOUGHTON, MICHIGAN.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 279,800, dated June 19, 1883.

Application filed March 14, 1863. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JosErH F. PRYOR, of Houghton, in the county of Houghton and State of Michigan, have invented a new and 5. Improved Oar-Coupling, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description.

The object of the invention is to improve that class of car-couplings in which hook-jaws and arrow-head couplers are employed, as

hereinafter described.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is plan view of my improved coupler and buffer and a horizontal section of the contrivance by which it is attached to the car. Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the coupler on line at m, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section 011 line y y of Fig. 2. Fig. A is a front elevationwith a part of the head broken out. Fig. '5 is a detail of the shaft device for opening the hook-jaws from the top of the car, in section on line z z, Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a hori zontal section of the jaw-opening contrivance, also on line 2 z, Fig. 4.

I make a strong casting, a, for a couplingblock, suitable for a buffer, when I so desire to use it, with a covered chamber, 1), for contaiin ing the coupling-hooks 0, back of the bellmouthed opening Z, for the draw-bar e, and having a solid rear extension, f, of the hind part fitting in the box or chamber 9 of the casting 71, attached to the car-body, and with a stem, 13, projecting beyond partf through the back of box 71, and having a strong coiled or other buffing spring, j, fitted around it to relieve the shocks of the cars upon each other.

The draw-bar c has a cone-head, k, at each end, which opens the hooks c self-actingly for coupling by pushing between their beveled and concaved heads I, said hooks being pivoted at m, and the hooks are closed 011 the head of the drawbar by the springs 01.

To keep the head of the draw-bar c in its working. position against the hooks a presser,

0, having a conical socket in its head is placed behind the hooks to receive the head It in its socket, and having a spring, coiled around its red g, which has sufficient power to keep the draw-bar in its position, except when it is thrust in with great force. Then it yields sufficient1y to relieve the drawbar properly, but instantly recovers and forces-the head it back to its place.

The bearing for the extreme rear end of the pusher-rod is in the eye-stud s of the casting a; but about the middle of the pusher-rod it is supported in the bearings f of the hooks e, and being slack in bearings it is free to vibrate laterally and vertically with the hooks, which are also slack on their pivots m, to-allow the requisite play ofthe draw-bar for coupling with cars of different heights and for turning short curves.

To open the hooks for uncoupling, and for setting them so they will not couple, which is sometimes required, they are connected by rods a with a collar, 1:, of a tube or shaft, to, extending down through the top of the casting a into chamber 1) from above, and being fitted to be turned suitably for forcing the hooks apart.

In order to be able to open the hooks from the side of the ear, I have connected a lever, a", with this tube 10 by means of a collar, y, exterior to the tube, to which lever I attach ashort rod, a, extending to each side of the car, to which rod a pawl, I), is connected by a red, at, to engage a ratchet, 0, attached to the tube to set the tube and hold the hooks open when it is desired that the ears shall not couple. The rod a has alittle play on the connecting-pin d of lever 00 by the slot 0 in said rod to enable the pawl to be detached from the ratchet a before the back-thrust of the rod takes effect on the lever 00.

The collar 3/ is fitted to tube 10 so as to turn on it, and connects with it by the stud f which bears against shoulder g to open the hooks, the said shoulder being the end of a slot, 7z., of the tube that allows the latter to be turned independently of lever 50 by another device by which it is designed to open the jaws from the 'top'of the car or above the platform, and which may consist of the shaft 11 of a hand-wheel, j, fitted in thesocket of the tube, and connecting with it by another stud, 7t, working in another slot, Z, by which the tube is allowed to be turned by the lever :0 and independently of the shaft i.

In the ease of freight-cars this shaft will be extended directly to the top of the car; but for passenger-cars on which it is desirable to place the shaft aside of the center an arm, m,

. may be attached to reach away to the shaft n, the hinged spring-pressed jaws 0 c and the .30

which may gear with the arm by a pinion, 0, and toothed segment 1), and the shaft will have a stop-stud, q, to limit the movement of the collar 11 by the range of the slot 1 on the step 8 of the shaft, the object being to stop'the rotation of said collar when the hooks c are wide open. Stops for the same purpose may be provided with the lever 00. The ratchet 00 and its pawl willhold the hooks open when opened by the wheel j. The joint-lugs u of the hooked 'aws c are notched at w to )rovide room for the rod q of the presser to pass between them when it is pushed back by the draw-rod.

The cars may be coupled very short or close together by this coupler, which it is always desirable to do, the casting a being set a distance beyond the buffer, when a separate but fer is used, equal to its range in theboX g of the connecting device it to be then attached to the buffer. The shank f of the couplingblock a has string trunnion-studs 1/ connecting it with the attaching device h by the slots 2 of the latter for drawing the car.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The hollow casting a, chambered at b, bell-mouthed at d, and carrying on the inside spring-actuated conieally-socketed presser 0, as shown and described.

2. The combination, with the spring-pusher i, of the eye-stud bearing son the casting a, and the bearings t t on the hooks c c, said pusher being arrangedloosely in bearing 8, whereby cars may turn short curves and be coupled with those differing in height, as described.

3. The combination, with the chamber 1) and hinged hooks c c, of the rods 14, the tube w, having collar '0 and shoulder g, the loose collar 1 having studf, and the lever 00, whereby the hooks may be opened, as described.

4. The tube 10, slotted at h Z, in combination with the shaft 6, having thestud 7c and hand-wheelj, as and for the purpose specified.

5. The combination, with the lever w, having pin-(1, the rod a the pawl Z), and the ratchet c, of the end slotted rods, 0, whereby the pawl may be detached from the ratchet before the back-thrust of the rod takes effect on the lever, as described.

JOSEPH FRANCIS PRYOR.

XVitnesses:

JOHN DEE, A. R. GRAY. 

